Day of Destruction
by KJ
Summary: Can the rangers stop the newist evil plan from being unleashed or is it already too late


**Authors Notes:** This is the next story in the Ranger Scrolls series.

Power Rangers Zeo  
"Day of Destruction"

A young brunette awoke in her apartment in the middle of a beautiful Friday morning. She glanced at the man next to her who was still asleep. She smiled at him as she tried to sit up slowly, as his arm was draped around her and she didn't want to wake him. She sat straight up and leaned against her headboard, and just as she was going to swing her legs out from under the covers his eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Good morning.", Rocky DeSantos said as he looked up and smiled at his girlfriend

"Morning.", Carri Hillard replied smiling down at him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Alright.", he replied as he reached up and put his hand on her waist. "Doesn't mean I'm ready to get out of bed yet."

"That may be fine and dandy for you, but I want to go watch the parade.", she told him as she smiled

He gave her a goofy look as he leaned across her body and picked up her television remote from the night stand. He clicked on the television and smiled at her. "There. Parade."

"Yes but it's much bigger out there.", she said pointing toward the living room. She giggled and slid back down in the bed with him as they watched the Rose Parade. "We should have gone.", she commented

"We shouldn't have partied so hard last night.", he replied with a smile as he pulled her close to him

She looked over at him and smiled. They had stayed up late the night before but they had a fabulous time. Her and Rocky, Tommy and Kim, Jason and Emily, even Kat came up to LA for New Year's Eve to celebrate with Chris. Of course Tommy and Emily stayed at the apartment, but Kat did as well since Billy offered her his bed because he was going to ring in the new year in Europe. Carri hoped that Billy, Trini and Zack had as much fun as they did.

"You gonna watch the game?", Rocky asked drawing her thoughts back to the parade

"Maybe. Go Bruins.", she said as waved a finger in the air

"Bruins?", Rocky asked as he leaned on his side and looked at her. "You can't cheer for our conference rivals."

"Hey we made our conference look pretty pathetic yesterday. So somebody has to make us look good.", she said pointing out the Trojan's loss the previous day to Texas Christian in the Sun Bowl

"Yeah I suppose.", he said although he still found it hard to cheer for their rivals. She smiled up at him and he kissed her on the forehead, then the duo curled up together as they watched the remainder of the Tournament of Roses Parade.

* * *

That same morning, light-years away in another galaxy, the forces of evil were gathering to figure out how they were going to celebrate Earth's new year.

Lord Zedd and Rita arrived at this conference of evil early. They knew their time for personal dominance of Earth was over. But they would still have their chance to conquer the planet, only this time they would have to follow Dark Specter's plans.

Zedd and Rita went to find seating as they bumped into another duo. "You.", Prince Gasket said as he looked up and saw Lord Zedd standing there. "You destroyed my family."

Zedd laughed. "Well if you are waiting for an apology from me don't. If it weren't for your blasted father I would have conquered Earth years ago."

Gasket looked him over. "I could almost thank you if you hadn't destroyed the empire that was rightfully mine along with him."

Archerina put a hand on him. "Don't worry love. We will rebuild your fathers empire one day and you will claim the throne."

Zedd laughed and walked away with that. It would be next to impossible for Gasket to rebuild his fathers empire. In fact he wasn't even sure why he thought he deserved to be here right now. He had no real power in the evil realm anymore.

"Rita!", a voice called out. Zedd and his wife turned to see who was waving to them. "It's so good to see you."

Rita forced a smile when she saw who was coming her way. She didn't know why she was pretending to be nice, it wasn't like they were the best of friends. "Divatox, it's good to see you too."

"I heard you're having trouble conquering that planet of yours.", Divatox said with a smile

"Conquering the planet is easy. It's getting rid of those rangers that has proven to be a nuisance.", Rita replied with a huff. Then she threw in a smile at the end to keep up pretenses.

"Well Rita I just don't..."

Divatox found herself cut off by someone else vying for Rita's attention. Rita wasn't sure who she wanted to talk to least. But she figured if she could at least feign interest in someone else, Divatox might go away. "Daddy, it's so good to see you."

"Rita, hello.", Master Vile said as he greeted his daughter. Then he turned to Zedd. "I see you still haven't managed to conquer Earth."

Zedd muttered a few things under his breath but didn't reply. Rita smiled at her father and changed the subject. "So daddy, do you know why Dark Specter has called us all here?"

Before Master Vile could respond, two women walked past him. "You just can't know everything. It will ruin the surprise.", Astronema said as she laughed and continued on to the middle of the long table.

Callisto looked at Rita and Zedd with a twisted smile on her face. Everything was now finally coming to pass. Dark Specter was going to finalize his plans with some of the most evil creatures they knew. Of course, not all of them were going to like his plans. But he wasn't giving them any choice.

The two women stood in the center of the table as Astronema banged her staff down on the ground making enough noise to get everyone's attention. Slowly but surely, they all found seats and looked over to her. She smiled as she started to speak. "You have all been brought here today so that Dark Specter could share his plans with you."

"And what exactly might those be?", Zedd asked from down the table

Astronema said nothing as she looked toward the sky, and Dark Specter's image loomed high above them. "I, Dark Specter, the monarch of all evil, have devised the ultimate plan to conquer the universe."

There were whisperings around the table which were quickly silenced when Dark Specter spoke again. "We will capture Zordon and drain his power. Once his power is drained, what remains will be enough to destroy all ranger powers forever, leaving the universe without its protectors."

"As good as a plan as this is, I don't think the rangers will just let you come in and take Zordon.", Rita said trying to hide the skepticism in her voice

"Don't worry.", Callisto said with a smile. "I've already devised a plan for that." She and Astronema had been working hard to come up with the best way to get into those brats Power Chamber. She was excited about heading the attack. A few months ago she was able to kill her greatest enemy, now she would come back and destroy her four friends.

"Don't you think the rangers are going to try and rescue Zordon?", asked Master Vile, who agreed wholeheartedly with his daughter's concerns

Callisto laughed. "I'm going to kill them all so it won't really matter."

"Just in case," Dark Specter said as he looked down at his evil followers, "Lord Zedd and Rita will return to the Lunar Palace to continue their attacks on Earth," he paused as Zedd and Rita smiled, "and they will be joined by Divatox. With the combined power of their forces any rangers who survive the initial attack will not be able to chase after Zordon with their planet in constant peril."

Divatox smiled and waved down at Rita, who smiled and waved back before turning towards Dark Specter and resisting the urge to throw up. If this wasn't insulting, she didn't know what was.

"We will be ready to attack soon.", Callisto said as she addressed Dark Specter

"Good.", he replied. "Rita, Zedd, I want you to keep those rangers busy until we attack. I do not want them to have any idea about what is going to happen until it's too late."

"Fine.", Zedd said. With that Dark Specter disappeared and left everyone to do his bidding. Zedd and Rita slowly stood up and got ready to head back to the Lunar Palace. As they turned, Zedd thought he saw something in the shadows. He slowly approached what had caught his eye.

Standing in hiding was the Red Astro Ranger. He had found out about the meeting once he interrupted a transmission which said that Dark Specter was gathering all the forces of evil. He was curious as to what had been going on, so he decided to spy on them. He heard the plan, he knew he had to stop them. But as he saw Lord Zedd coming his way, he knew he couldn't stop them if he got caught. As Zedd approached the Red Ranger turned his hands toward the sky. "Galaxy Glider hang ten!", he yelled

A few seconds later his Galaxy Glider appeared before him. He leaped onto it and fled before Zedd could reach him. Astronema was furious. "I will not let him be the one thing that destroys our plan.", she said turning toward Divatox. "Zedd will be keeping the Earth rangers busy while Callisto and I get ready for the attack. I want you on your way to Earth to stop and keep that space ranger company for a while so he can't warn the other rangers."

Divatox nodded in agreement, and with that their meeting officially broke up as the evil doers disappeared to complete their assigned tasks.

* * *

Katherine Hillard sat in her cousin's apartment in the living room later that same morning watching tv. The rest of the apartment had yet to come out into the world of the living. She assumed they were all up and spending time with each other. Kat sighed as she thought about how nice it would have been to stay the night with Chris. It just wasn't an option. Chris's dorm room bed was too small for both of them. And although Billy had invited her to stay in his bed, she didn't quite think the invitation extended to her boyfriend as well.

Kat adjusted herself on the couch as she finally heard someone's room door open. She looked up in time to see Tommy walk out with Kim. She said good morning to both of them as they walked over toward the couch.

Kimberly Heart smiled as she said good morning back and sat on the opposite end of the couch from Kat. Tommy Oliver managed a good morning as well as he stretched and sat down in between both girls. He extended his legs out on the floor and leaned back in the middle cushion as he looked to see what Kat was watching.

"I forgot about the parade.", Tommy said

Kat smiled. "Well you missed most of it. This is the end."

"We should have gotten up and gone. It would have been fun.", Kim suggested

Tommy looked over at his girlfriend and laughed. "Then we would have had to be up at seven and I just don't see that happening."

Kim just smiled as she leaned back against the couch pillow. As she started to make herself comfortable she saw two more of their friends come out to join them. "It's about time you got out of bed."

Carri stretched and made a face. "We were watching the parade. Besides I'm not stupid. I know you guys just got up." She said as she stuck her tongue out and swatted at the back of Kim's hair. Kim reached her hand back and slapped her away. Carri grinned and walked around the couch, sitting in Kim's lap and stretching her legs across Tommy, with her toes touching Kat.

Kim tried hard not to smile as she looked at her friend then glanced down in her lap a few times. Carri laughed. "Well you did take all the good seats."

Tommy laughed at the girls as Kim gave Carri a nudge and she lost her balance and fell off the couch. "Hey now play nice.", warned Jason Lee Scott as he and Emily made their way into the living room. He looked over at Tommy and smiled. "Now you see what I have to deal with all day."

"Oh hush.", Carri said from the floor

Kim smiled down at her friend, then looked up at Jason. "Don't worry you know he loves us."

Carri sat up on the floor and Rocky sat down beside her. "Yeah well we're sorry we can't babysit all day.", he said as he smiled at Tommy who laughed.

Carri lightly slapped her boyfriend on the arm. "You hush too."

"You see what we have to deal with all day?", Kim asked, putting the emphasis on the we as she grinned and pointed to herself and Carri

Emily finished fixing a cup of coffee as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Well you know it is four on three here so if the boys get out of line, we'll take care of them."

Jason laughed and leaned on the kitchen table close to his girlfriend. Just as he was about to retaliate, the familiar beep that always interrupts their fun went off. Kim groaned as Carri flopped back to the floor. "Do we have to?", she asked as she quickly picked herself back up and leaned in towards Tommy, who sighed and nodded.

"Go ahead Alpha.", Tommy said in reply

"Rangers Lord Zedd has unleashed a monster in the park.", Alpha informed them

"Alright Alpha we're on it.", Tommy replied as the five rangers stood up and gathered together

"Now that they've interrupted our morning, they're in trouble.", Carri said as Kim smiled and nodded

Tommy laughed in response as he thrust his arms down to his side. "It's morphin time!"

"Zeo ranger one, pink!"

"Zeo ranger two, yellow!"

"Zeo ranger three, blue!"

"Zeo ranger four, green!"

"Zeo ranger five, red!"

And with that, Kat and Emily watched as the five rangers transformed and were teleported to the park. They hit the ground and immediately jumped into a fighting stance. The looked at the monster, who was a hideous creature with what appeared to be a New Year's Eve party hat on it's head.

"I hate to tell you but you missed the party so you can just go right back to where you came from.", Tommy said with a smile

"That's where you're wrong, the party's just starting.", the monster said laughing. "Tengas!"

As he called for backup, the overgrown birds materialized beside him and the monster motioned for them to attack as the battle began. The tengas ran towards the rangers, who fought them off with ease. They ran around the field attacking the rangers, while the rangers split up to take them on. After a little while, the rangers were standing triumphant, while the tengas found themselves in a pile on the ground. The birds took off and the rangers turned toward the monster, who was standing with Goldar and Rito.

"So you beat some tengas. Big deal. Let's see how you like this.", the monster said as he fired beams at them.

The rangers were hit by the blasts and tumbled backwards. Tommy was the first to get up as he called for his power weapon. "Your turn.", he said as he attacked the monster

Kim turned toward Carri. "We can't let him have all the fun.", she said. Carri nodded in response as both girls called on their weapons, and Carri attacked Goldar while Kim attacked Rito.

Jason and Rocky watched the girls run off and turned toward each other, then shrugged their shoulders. The boys called on their weapons then ran into battle, fighting whoever they could get to. After Goldar and Rito got irritated and left, only the monster stood strong against the rangers.

"Pansies.", Carri said referencing the duo as the rangers regrouped and stared down the monster

"They're just leaving me with all the fun.", the monster replied as he ran to attack

The rangers spent some time on hand to hand combat with the monster, before they finally got fed up and grouped together, calling for the Zeo Cannon. A few seconds later the monster was destroyed. Not to anyone's surprise, once the smoke cleared the monster stood several stories tall and looked down on them.

"Now I can crush you like bugs.", he said as he lifted one foot up and tried to step on them

The rangers rolled out of the way and stood up. "Oh please.", Kim said as she rolled her eyes underneath her helmet

"We need Super Zeo Zord power now!", Tommy cried out as the five zords came barreling toward them

Each ranger jumped into their respective zord and they wasted no time bringing them together. This battle was much like the previous in that the rangers fought the monster hand to hand before bringing him down, this time for good.

They quickly teleported back home and were greeted by Emily and Kat. Kim smiled and looked at everyone. "Well I'm ready to go out now.", she said as she headed off for a shower

"Yup.", Carri agreed as she went to take a shower as well.

Jason turned toward the bedrooms. "I think I'll get ready too.", he said

Kat smiled as the three that lived there headed into their bathrooms and the remaining two rangers sat restlessly waiting their own turns. It was amazing how much energy a fight could give you. She remembered the days of not being with it, then being called off for duty and being ready for whatever the day threw at her. Of course too much fighting in one day was draining, but one fight could certainly be revitalizing. Kat made herself comfortable in her seat as she waited for her turn for a shower so they could all get ready for their day.

* * *

Rita and Zedd finished watching as their monster was defeated. "Another waste.", Zedd growled

"Well Dark Specter said keep them busy.", Rita pointed out

"So he can work his magic and we can work with Divatox?", he asked. Rita made a face and turned, walking off in a huff. "Well fine. If he wants us to keep them busy, we'll keep them busy. Finster!"

Finster scurried into the throne room. "Yes Lord Zedd?", he asked

"I want as many monsters as you can make.", he ordered

"What kind of monsters?", asked Finster

"Does it matter?", Zedd asked feeling irritated

"No, of course not.", Finster replied. "I'll get right on it.", he said as he hurried off

Rita glanced at Zedd curiously. "As soon as Finster is ready, we'll flood those rangers with monsters."

"What if we interrupt Dark Specter's plan?", she asked. Not that she was in favor of the plan, but she didn't want to suffer his wrath.

"If we manage to kill the rangers, then that could only help his plan. Think about how much easier it would be to capture Zordon if those rangers weren't around to protect him.", Zedd explained. With that, he walked over and sat in his chair, impatiently waiting for Finster to throw together some monster molds.

* * *

"So what are everyone's plans for the day?", Jason asked once everybody was showered and dressed and sitting in the living room. Jason smiled at his girlfriend, who was sitting on the couch with him, as he put his arm around her and pulled her close.

Emily gave Jason a quick kiss. "Jase you know I can't stay today. I promised Ernie I would get back to help him with inventory."

"Me neither.", Kat answered. "I have to go meet Chris for a bit then get back to Angel Grove to work on some stuff for this weekend's dance classes."

"Well that sucks.", Carri pointed out as she smiled at Emily and Kat. "I was hoping everybody could hang out today."

"Another day definitely.", Emily replied

"Well Kim and I are game.", Tommy said as he looked at Kim, who nodded in response

Rocky pointed to himself and his girlfriend. "Us too.", he added although that was probably implied when Carri said she wanted to hang out with everyone that day

"Well good.", Jason said. He had forgotten than Emily had to get back, but it would still be fun to go hang out with his friends. "So what do you guys want to do?"

"Shopping?", Kim asked as she grinned at the boys. She looked over and made eye contact with Carri, then the two girls laughed while Rocky groaned and Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Next.", Jason said. Boys don't like shopping in general, and God forbid any of them be subjected to doing it with those two. If shopping were to ever become an Olympic sport, they could take the gold with their eyes closed.

Carri shrugged her shoulders and smiled mischievously at Jason. "I kinda liked Kim's idea."

"Anyway I have a real idea.", Rocky said cutting the shopping conversation short. "How about we have a picnic in the park? It would be fun, some food, some games... what do you guys say?"

"It would be like old times.", Tommy replied. It had been a long time since any ranger team had gone to have a picnic in the park. They were always so caught up with school and duty, that they weren't afforded much time to stop and enjoy nature. Especially all at the same time.

The two girls and Jason agreed with Rocky's idea as well. Emily mock pouted. "Now you're making me wish I didn't have to go."

"So call in sick.", Jason replied

Emily put her arms around his neck and smiled. "I can't do that.", she said as she gave him a kiss. "I promised Ernie.", she pointed out as she stood up. "Besides, there will be time for that another day."

"So are you leaving me now?", Jason asked. Emily nodded, and Jason stood up to walk her out. The others said their goodbyes as Emily left.

"I guess I had better head out too.", Kat said as she stood up as well. "Thanks guys. I had a good time last night."

"You're always welcome to party with us.", Carri said as she walked over and gave her cousin a hug. She had no idea when she would see her next, as the new semester would be starting up shortly.

Kat returned the hug and said goodbye to the other rangers before leaving. When she left, the five rangers got some things together and headed out to the park for a picnic.

* * *

Their picnic started off no different than any usual event. They had some food, and started talking, and had a great time. Of course, like most events in the rangers lives, their picnic was interrupted by their communicators.

The rangers sighed. They already had one fight that day, and it looked like they were headed for another. "Go ahead Alpha.", Tommy spoke into his communicators

"Rangers there are tengas in the park in Angel Grove.", Alpha replied

"We're on it.", Tommy said. He looked at the other rangers as they all stood up. A few tengas shouldn't take them too long. And they could go have a little fun. "Ninjetti, falcon!"

"Crane!"

"Cougar!"

"Panther!"

"Ape!"

With that the five ninjetti's arrived on the scene. It didn't take them long to take care of the tengas, and they had a good time doing it. As they stood together with the tengas defeated, the real reason for the fight was coming to light as Zedd's monsters jumped out and ambushed them.

"Surprised to see us?", asked Eye Guy

The rangers looked at the monsters that surrounded them. "Anyone else getting the strangest sense of deja vu?", Kim asked

"Anyone else getting the sense that we're outnumbered?', Carri replied. She didn't get the deja vu, but Rocky, Tommy, and Jason did. As they looked around them, there stood six of the monsters that the rangers had faced before. Eye Guy, Soccadillo, Oysterizer, Octophantom, Primator and Saliguana stood before them, all having multiple previous defeats and all ready to fight the rangers again.

"I think it's time to step it up a notch.", Tommy said, as he looked at the others who nodded. "It's morphin time!"

The five rangers quickly became the Zeo Rangers, and they stood there face to face with Zedd and Rita's monsters. The monsters were circling the rangers getting ready to attack.

"So everyone gets their own monster and we'll deal with the extra?", Jason asked as nobody was able to think of a plan

"I think I can help with the extra.", Trey said as the Gold Ranger teleported down beside them. He had gotten word from Zordon that the rangers could use his help.

"Hey who invited you to our party?", asked Primator

"Doesn't matter.", Rocky replied as the six rangers divided up and took on a monster. The plan wasn't the best in the world, but these guys could be defeated as they had proven on multiple occasions. And, with a lack of anything better, they were going for it.

Kim found herself face to face with Eye Guy. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?", she asked as she called for her weapon, and headed for his weakness, his main eye

"You'll never defeat Lord Zedd and Rita.", Eye Guy replied as he fired at her, sending her back

Kim fell back and jumped right back up, heading for his main eye again, trying to make quick work of her former foe. Meanwhile the male rangers were also recalling how to defeat their enemies.

Tommy jumped out of the way just as Saliguana spat fire out at him. He called for his sword. He was hoping that he could get Saliguana with his tongue out, so he could destroy the tongue and defeat him. He put all his concentration into his tongue as he continued his battle.

Jason and Rocky found themselves against Octophantom and Soccadillo as they were trying to use their previous knowledge as well. And even though Carri and Trey, who were left with Primator and Oysterizer, didn't know anything about the monsters, they weren't finding them hard to fight.

A few minutes into the fight there was a mini explosion, and everyone good and evil turned their heads. The rangers smiled as Kim stood triumphantly while Eye Guy fell, as she had finally gotten to his main eye. Saliguana was quick to stick his tongue out at a distracted Tommy. The red ranger wasn't as distracted as he thought he was, and Tommy quickly sliced his tongue off and watched him fall, then he and Kim took off to help their friends.

As Rita and Zedd watched the odds start to go in the rangers favor, they quickly decided to up the ante. In the middle of the fight, the monsters grew to city wrecking size and were once again six strong.

"Guys I think we're going to need all the power we can get for this one.", Tommy said and the others agreed. "I'm going to call on the Red Battlezord."

"We'll cover the Super Zeo Zords.", Carri said motioning to herself and Rocky

"And we've got the Zeo Zords.", Kim said as she glanced over to Jason and he nodded

"Then let's do this.", Tommy said as they all called on their Zords. Standing in between the six monsters was the Red Battlezord, the Super Zeo Megazord, and the Zeo Megazord.

Trey looked up at the fight from the ground. The three zords were strong, but they would need some help defeating these monsters. "I call upon the power of Pyramidas!", he yelled as the great Pyramid came hurdling through the sky.

Kim and Jason took the Zeo Megazord to Eye Guy, in hopes of defeating him much like before, while Tommy went back after Saliguana. The Super Zeo Megazord as well as Pyramidas were left with the other four monsters to fight.

Tommy once again made quick work out of Saliguana, then went to help the others with their monsters. Trey looked up and saw the Battlezord and super Zeo Megazord standing beside him. "Rangers let's form the Ultrazord. I have been working on expanding Pyramidas's weapons and now would be a good time to try them out."

Rocky, Carri and Tommy quickly brought all their zords together to form the Ultrazord. As they did they saw Jason and Kim finish of Eye Guy, and the other four monsters start to surround them. Trey finished a few configurations, then he fired the weapons of the Ultrazord. Instead of the usual attack, the Ultrazord's firepower extended in a circular direction, hitting any monster that was unfortunate enough to surround them.

After the rest of Zedd and Rita's monsters went down, the rangers returned their zords and headed for the Power Chamber. "Zordon what's going on?", Tommy asked as they came in and powered down

"We are unsure of Zedd and Rita's intentions at this time.", Zordon replied. There were, of course, intergalatic rumblings of something Dark Specter might be planning that would involve Rita and Zedd but they had no proof that they were anything but rumors. And he didn't want to worry his rangers about it until they had proof.

"Rangers we believe that the attack this morning was just a distraction for this afternoon's attack.", Alpha replied

The rangers looked at each other. "Do you think they're done for the day?", Jason asked

"That is hard to say for sure.", Alpha replied

"You guys want to try and finish our picnic?", Carri asked as she looked at the others. The hardest thing to do after a series of attacks was try and go back to normal life. Because for the ranges, things were never what most people would call normal.

"I think so.", Rocky said as he looked at his girlfriend and smiled

Tommy looked around the room. Rocky and Carri were ready to try and relax, and Jason looked like he could use a breather as well. Not to mention there was nothing more that he would like than to take his girlfriend back out to the park as well. And Zordon and Alpha would let them know if there was any trouble. "Yeah, I agree. Let's go try and relax."

The other rangers smiled and nodded in agreement as they teleported off.

* * *

When they went back to the park the first thing the rangers did was finish up their lunch. As they finished eating, Rocky reached for a frisbee and they all went to an open area and spread out. Rocky took his frisbee and threw it first at his girlfriend, intentionally over her head.

He laughed as Carri jumped for it, then looked at him and rolled her eyes. "How tall do you think I am?", she asked as she turned around, waiting to smile until she was sure he wouldn't see her to have the satisfaction of knowing she was amused. Carri picked up the frisbee and turned around, throwing it to Kim.

The pink ranger smiled and caught it, then kept the cycle going as they all threw it around. The frisbee tossing went on for a while, with the rangers enjoying the afternoon air and the chance to not have to worry about saving the world for a bit. As the game progressed, Carri and Kim inched closer together so they could be withing yapping distance. At one point they looked up and saw Jason with the frisbee in his hands and a mischievous look on his face. As he threw it, it sailed between them and well over their heads.

"I thought we already established that," Carri started as she and Kim both turned. She stopped when she saw Rocky standing there, frisbee in hand, shaking it at them and smiling. "Hey!", she exclaimed

Rocky sailed the frisbee back over their heads and towards Tommy, who grabbed it and laughed. "Monkey in the middle.", he said throwing it back

"This game's not very fair.", Kim said as both girls found themselves in the middle of a circle of male rangers. They spent the first few minutes trying to snag the frisbee, but with no luck. Finally they reconvened in the middle of the circle and started plotting amongst themselves.

As Jason caught the frisbee he looked at the girls, who looked up and smiled sweetly at him, giving him a wave. Jason eyed the two and watched as Kim moved toward Tommy and Carri moved toward Rocky. As Jason threw the frisbee towards Rocky, Carri went barreling towards him. Rocky caught the frisbee and to his surprise, caught Carri as well. She got him off balance and the duo fell to the ground, but not before Rocky could get the frisbee out of his hands.

"Nice try.", Rocky said smiling at her. She turned and saw that Kim had tackled Tommy and the frisbee had landed where they were standing earlier, only to have been picked up by Jason.

The girls grinned and jumped up quickly to try and rush Jason for it. As they ran off, their communicators went off. "Damn.", Carri cursed under her breath as she frowned

Tommy saw the looks on his fellow rangers faces. It seemed like every time they were starting to have fun, it was time to go save the world again. The Zeo team bunched together and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. "Go ahead.", Tommy said

"Rito and Goldar have come to Angel Grove with the tengas.", Alpha replied

"Again?", Rocky asked as he sighed

Jason shared in the others frustration as he thought about their third attack of the day. "Do you think it's another ambush?"

"Let's hope not.", Kim replied. She looked at the others and Tommy nodded.

"It's morphin time!", he yelled and within minutes the rangers were on the scene. Tommy looked around at the tengas and Rito and Goldar. "Haven't you guys learned your lesson yet today?"

"Rangers prepare to meet your demise.", Goldar growled as he eyed Tommy. Of course he wasn't sure if even he believed that, but they were short on monsters and Dark Specter wanted the rangers kept busy, so here they were.

Carri rolled her eyes under her helmet as the rangers ran to attack. Tommy went straight for Goldar while Rocky attacked Rito, leaving Jason, Kim and Carri with the tengas. It was no different than a normal fight with Rita and Zedd's lackeys. It had its moments, but for the most part it was fairly easy. The rangers did find this fight to be longer than any normal fight. Usually Rito and Goldar would give up well before the rangers reached their maximum level of annoyance with the duo. This time they persisted even after the tengas were defeated. After a while though, just like on any day, Rito and Goldar left. The rangers sighed and went back to the Power Chamber to check in.

"Something's not right here.", Jason said as they all powered down

"I agree.", Zordon replied. "However we are unsure at this time what Rita and Zedd are planning."

"Don't we have any way of figuring it out?", Tommy asked. He was concerned before this last attack, and now he was starting to get nervous about what might be going on at the Lunar Palace. They never just attacked all day like that. Not without some master plan waiting in the wings. And he didn't like that they were in the dark. Instinct told him they were about to get blind sided and there was nothing they could do about it.

"Aye ai ai! I'm working as hard as I can rangers. But whatever Rita and Zedd are up to, they aren't leaving us any clues.", Alpha said as he stood over the consoles trying to find the team some answers

"So what should we do now?", asked Rocky as he looked towards their mentor for advice

"Well I don't know about you guys," Carri started as all eyes turned towards her, "but I say we go back to the surface and relax. If Rita and Zedd are planning something, Alpha and Zordon will let us know when they do. But until then... well we've had three fights in four hours. I want to relax so at least I'm ready for the next one."

"She's right. We can't keep going at this pace all day without pausing every now and then.", Kim added. They were already starting to get tired from the first three fights. And they couldn't give up and they needed to stay prepared.

"Should we go back to the park?", Jason asked. He didn't want to leave but the girls were right. This may be Rita and Zedd's plan. To wear them out until they can't function, then to attack and defeat them so they could take over the world.

The rangers looked around at each other then looked up at Zordon. "I believe that it is for the best that you get some rest before Rita and Zedd attack again. We will let you know as soon as we know something."

They nodded and teleported back down to the park. Carri immediately flopped down on the blanket they were using for their picnic. "Guys this is getting ridiculous. Not to mention we have no idea what's going on."

"I agree.", Rocky said as he sat down beside her. "But there's not much we can do about it now."

Kim laid down beside Carri on the blanket. "We should just sit out here and enjoy the weather until we get Zordon's call."

As much as he wanted to do something, to prevent what might be coming, Tommy had to agree with her as he and Jason sat down with their teammates. They tried to rest for a little bit so they could be ready for whatever Rita and Zedd threw their way.

* * *

Callisto and Astronema stood on the bridge of the Dark Fortress as they entered the rangers galaxy. Ecliptor approached Astronema. "We will be in Earth's orbit soon."

"Good.", Astronema said as a smile crept across her face. "Are your forces ready?"

"Of course.", Callisto replied as she couldn't help but smile as well. The day they have been waiting for was finally arriving. "I just hope that Zedd and Rita managed to keep those rangers busy long enough for us to move in."

"I suspect they did. Even they couldn't mess that up.", Astronema said with a laugh. She really didn't respect Zedd and Rita as villains. To be quite honest, she didn't respect many people as villains but Zedd and Rita were at the bottom of her list. How they couldn't have destroyed a few teenagers and conquered Earth by now was beyond her. But they wouldn't have to worry about that much longer. Once all the power was destroyed, they wouldn't have any trouble taking Earth. That is, of course, assuming Dark Specter would let them have that planet. She assumed he would. Earth was a very low rate planet and the only reason Dark Specter had interest in it was Zordon. He wanted to destroy all the power and take other planets that had rangers protecting them.

Callisto's cackling pulled Astronema out of her thoughts. The princess of evil turned to the goddess and titled her head. Callisto smiled at her. "I was just thinking of all the things I could do if I actually got my hands on those rangers."

"Well if they know what's good for them they'll flee before they ever get to that point. Of course since when have the rangers ever known what's good for them.", Astronema said as she smiled. The duo both escaped into their own thoughts as Earth was fast approaching.

* * *

The rangers finally felt like they were getting to relax. The girls had dozed off on the picnic blankets after talking the boys ears off for a while, and the boys had gotten up to practice some moves.

Rocky glanced over at the girls and smiled. "It's nice that we've had some time to relax now."

"Yeah but it's starting to bother me.", Tommy replied. It was nice, but this whole day had been too weird for his taste.

"Maybe Rita and Zedd realized that whatever they were doing was pointless.", Rocky suggested. He was trying to be optimistic, although he knew that with Rita and Zedd they never gave up. There had been rangers fighting in that town for almost six years, and most of that was against Rita and Zedd. If they were ones to give up, they would have done it a long time ago.

Tommy smiled. "Yeah maybe."

"It doesn't matter. This is Rita and Zedd we're talking about. We've stopped them a thousand times, and we'll stop them a thousand more if that's what it takes.", Jason said. He knew that they could really be planning something serious, but he had a lot of faith in this team and he knew if anybody could stop Rita and Zedd, it was them.

The boys continued on what they were doing for a while until Tommy's communicator went off. They sighed and gathered around while he answered it. "Go ahead.", he spoke into it

"Rangers report to the Power Chamber immediately.", Zordon ordered

The boys looked at each other and nodded as Tommy and Rocky went to wake the girls. The five of them teleported up to the Power Chamber. Kim and Carri were rubbing the sleep out of their eyes but were jolted awake upon entering the Power Chamber by the sound of the alarm.

"Zordon what's going on?", Tommy asked as they all approached him

"Rangers please observe.", Zordon said. As they turned they saw a ship that appeared to be in Earth's orbit.

"Whose ship is that?", Rocky asked

"That is the Dark Fortress.", Alpha explained. "The ship belongs to Dark Specter but is run by Astronema."

"Is she coming here to take over for Rita and Zedd?", asked Kim

"We believe that Rita and Zedd have been working with Dark Specter to distract you so that Astronema can come carry out his plans.", Zordon explained

"Which are?", Rocky asked although he wasn't sure he wanted to know

"We are uncertain at this time.", Alpha replied

The rangers glanced at each other as the questions continued. "So with Astronema, what are we up against?", asked Jason

"Astronema considers herself the princess of all evil, and she works directly for Dark Specter, the monarch of all evil.", Zordon explained

"Great.", Carri said sarcastically dragging out the word. "Anyone else in this party?"

Alpha looked at her. The little robot knew that she of all people didn't want to hear this, but he had to explain to them anyway. "She has been known to use Quantrons to attack. She has two warriors directly under her, Darkonda and Ecliptor. And she has had Callisto working with her."

"What?", Carri asked. Her life had been free of the goddess ever since she killed her robotic replica and she wanted it to stay that way. "So you're saying that Callisto and Astronema are here to try and destroy us?"

"It would appear that way.", Alpha replied

"Rangers I know this looks like a difficult situation but I know that you can handle it.", Zordon told them trying to comfort them. He did have a lot of faith in this ranger team, but he knew that Astronema on her own was difficult, let alone trying to deal with her and Callisto. He knew they would fight her to the death, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

The rangers stood there for a moment as they all tried to absorb what was going on. The Power Chamber's alarms finally stopped going off and they could think straight again. Rocky sighed. This was the last thing he expected to hear when he woke up this morning. One minute they only have to be concerned about Rita and Zedd, the next they're concerned with their greatest enemy, who wasn't going to be happy when she found out Carri wasn't dead, who happened to be working with the princess of all evil who both worked for the monarch of all evil.

Tommy looked around at his team. He knew what they were thinking. That this was going to be tough. But he knew that they had been through Rita and Zedd, Ivan Ooze, the Machine Empire... they could do this too.

Before any of the rangers could say anything, the alarm went off again. "What's going on?", asked Kim

Alpha pulled up the disturbance and they all looked up in shock. "Aye ai ai!", he exclaimed. That was the best response any of them could give.

"Are those Quantrons?", asked Jason, which Zordon confirmed

"Callisto's leading them. Straight for us.", Carri said standing in shock for a moment. "We have to go out there and stop them."

"If they get past us, they'll get to the Power Chamber.", Tommy said. He knew what she was thinking but he didn't think it was a good idea.

"If we stay in here, they'll get to the Power Chamber anyway.", Carri pointed out

"We have to hope the defenses hold up.", Rocky said. As much as he knew they should fight, he wasn't in any rush to run out their and face Callisto and her army of Quantrons. Not with them leaving the Power Chamber and the source of their power defenseless.

"So we're staying. What do you need us to do?", Jason asked

"If we reroute the power to the shields, we might be able to keep them out.", Alpha suggested

The rangers nodded and scurried around trying to help. It would have been easier if Billy had been there, but they didn't have time to contact him and they would have had to make due. They quickly finished putting as much power as they could towards the outer shields, and watched as Callisto and her army marched in. Callisto tried to throw a fireball at the Power Chamber, but it didn't damage anything.

"You think they'll hold?", asked Kim

"I hope so.", Tommy replied. For the first time since become a ranger, Tommy was starting to feel helpless. He didn't know what to do or what to think, and he certainly didn't know how to prevent this attack from happening.

Suddenly the rangers felt the first rumblings of the Quantrons on the outside. They were trying to break in, and Callisto was trying to use her goddess powers to help. "Aye ai ai!", Alpha exclaimed as he watched the power to the outer shields drop

"What's wrong?", Jason asked as they rushed towards him

"We are losing power to the outer shields faster by the second.", Alpha exclaimed

"Can we get them more power?", Tommy asked

"Unfortunately we have routed all the power we have to the shields already.", Alpha replied

"They're not going to hold.", Carri said to herself as they watched the numbers continue to drop. The other rangers turned towards her. "Maybe we should abandon ship."

"We can't leave the Power Chamber or Zordon.", Tommy said shooting her idea down

Kim looked at her boyfriend. She didn't want to leave Zordon either, but Carri had a point. They were rangers first, and they had a planet to protect which was more important than protecting Zordon. "Carri's right. We're no good to Zordon or this planet if we're dead."

Zordon said nothing as the rangers thought about what she had said, only smiled to himself. He wasn't concerned about what happened to him. He knew he had five good rangers to try and protect the planet no matter what happened.

"We're no good to this planet without our powers.", Tommy pointed out. He saw Kim's logic, but he wasn't sure he could abandon this place yet.

"It wouldn't be the first time this place was destroyed and we were left without powers.", Kim reminded him. "And we made it then."

Rocky looked at the two female rangers. "Let's teleport the girls out. We'll stay and try to hold them off."

"Rocky that's crazy!", Carri exclaimed. She wanted them all to make it out alive.

"No, it's not. Kim's right we've been without powers before. And you're both strong rangers I know you can pull together and save this planet no matter what happens. We can hold them off for as long as possible and we'll try to get out. But if we don't I know you girls can handle it. But Tommy has a point someone has to try and keep the power from getting destroyed so we can continue the fight against evil."

Carri sighed heavily. She didn't like this idea one bit. She flashed him a smile. "Ok but promise me you guys will leave if they break in. Kim and I may be able to do it, but we still want the team five strong. We still want the team to be Rocky, Tommy and Jason strong."

"I promise.", Rocky said as he put his hand on her cheek and gave her a kiss

Tommy smiled at Kim and gave her a quick kiss as well. Kim nodded at Carri and the girls went and stood next to each other. Zordon looked at the two females. "Good luck, and may the power protect you."

The girls nodded and smiled as Jason went to teleport them. He cursed and slammed his hand against the console. "They've damaged the long range teleportation.", he said

"Just get them out of here.", Tommy said as he and Rocky hurried to try and find a way to protect the Power Chamber

Kim started to protest, the Quantron army was starting to break in and she thought the boys needed to leave too. But before she could say anything, the girls found themselves standing in the desert, about a half mile away from the Power Chamber, hiding behind a rock. They had a clear view of everything that was going on in the building they once stood in.

The girls couldn't help but hold their breath as they watched the Quantrons start to break in. They couldn't see Callisto, but Carri could only assume that since they had destroyed the shields, she had gone on and sent herself inside. She never thought of herself as a religious person, but suddenly she found herself praying that everything would be alright and the boys would make it out in time.

As she was deep in her own thoughts something grabbed her hand and held it tight. She looked over to see Kim anxiously standing there pouring all her nervous energy into her grip. Carri saw the reason why, parts of the Power Chamber were starting to collapse. She put her hand on top of Kim's as they stood their waiting to see the flashes of blue, red and green light coming out of the Power Chamber.

Piece by piece the building crumbled. The girls held their breath waiting for something good to come out of this mess. Finally in one horrendous moment, the entire Power Chamber collapsed on itself.

"Oh god.", Carri whispered as she felt her heart being yanked out of her chest

Kim collapsed onto the desert floor, easily dragging Carri along with her. "They never got out.", she said as the realization of what happened was starting to hit. "What are we going to do?"

"I... I don't know.", Carri said as she sat on the floor with Kim

The two girls watched as the Quantrons celebrated their victory. Both girls felt like their entire worlds collapsed and neither knew what to do about it. For the first time since Rita was set free so many years ago, the remaining rangers found themselves without power and without any way to stop the evil plan that was unfolding.

The End


End file.
